BREAKING: The U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV's teaching...

[demmiblue]

BREAKING: The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV's teaching authority on just war doctrine — less than twelve hours after JD Vance told a Turning Point USA crowd the pope should “be careful” talking theology.

This is a serious escalation.

BREAKING: The U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine just issued a formal statement defending Pope Leo XIV's teaching authority on just war doctrine — less than twelve hours after JD Vance told a Turning Point USA crowd the pope should “be careful” talking theology.

This is a serious escalation.

— Christopher Hale (@christopherjhale.bsky.social) 2026-04-15T17:07:25.641Z

[efhmc]

1. Great, I love it. Now let's talk about women in the/your church.

[MadameButterfly]

33. yeah, ok. can we focus for just a minute on what the Catholic Church is in the present getting right?

It's not as if Vance and Trump can do them better as regards to women, but that isn't the subject here.
Nor has the Catholic Church always practiced peace through it's long history.

But for now, the Catholic Doctrine and the preaching of it by the Pope are right on.

[efhmc]

47. My bet is that they will never address this issue because they firmly believe we are less than men. Unless we are needed

to reproduce a male son of GOD. A friend once called women the "blessed womb" when i asked him about this. This is what they are taught about us. We are needed but are less than they (men) are.

[Grins]

40. Let's stay on topic!

[summer_in_TX]

48. Can we avoid getting diverted from the topic at hand?

It's got to be tiresome to more than just me.

The sins of the Church are well known and many. But right now the topic is on war and just war, and the US's choice to attack Iran is very far from a just war. Also part of the topic at hand is the political pressure that this autocratic regime is trying to exert on the Pope to get him to fall in line, and their stupidity and boorishness too.

[obamanut2012]

2. This is crazy

As an ex Catholic now Episcopalian, I am on the Holy See's side. I never thought I would think that! lol

[Scrivener7]

5. It's such an unfamiliar feeling. I'm really impressed with them.

[MustLoveBeagles]

10. Pope Leo is a good guy

[TommyT139]

25. We're catholic too - just not with a capital C

[Irish_Dem]

3. They'll still vote for Trump who is evil personified.

[FakeNoose]

7. I know a lot of Catholics who vote D

And they also go to church more often than I do.

(Spoken as a person who was raised Catholic, but not so much any more.) My point is that Catholic voters in the US are not a monolithic voting block, by any stretch. If anything most of the Catholics my age and younger are in favor of abortions being legal and safe to all women who need them, but maybe they themselves wouldn't get one.

[Irish_Dem]

20. All the Catholics I know are staunch dyed in the wool MAGAs.

I wish I knew some of the liberal ones.

[Bristlecone]

37. Joe Biden is Catholic

As an aside.

But my wife teaches at a catholic school and there are many parents there that support TSF.

[Irish_Dem]

39. Unfortunately I do not run in the same circles as Joe Biden and his pals.

As I say most I know are MAGAs.

[xmas74]

45. So is Martin Sheen

And we all know his views on social justice.

[Grins]

41. You need to get out more.

[Irish_Dem]

43. There were a lot of Catholics where I used to live.

All more MAGA than the next.
Nice people but limited in scope.

And I have family in very Catholic areas.
Worse yet. Yikes is all I can say.
Sad.

But yes I would love to met liberal Catholics.
I would like that.

I was raised American- Irish Catholic, Irish grandparents.
We weren't long on American Catholics anyway.
We were more cultural Catholics, followed all the rules, went to Mass, etc.
But were not that religious.
One of my aunts was a nun, one of my uncles a priest.
Good, kind, smart people, but not hyper religious either.

[AverageOldGuy]

21. I recall some surveys I saw years ago . . .

. . . about Catholic women and birth control.

I probably don't have this exactly correct but as I recall the Church forbade the use of birth control of any kind. Surveys of Catholic women showed that upwards of 90% were on the pill, the diaphragm, or condoms.

I have always felt that Catholic women were like the other women I know -- just don't mess with them, treat them nicely, open the door for them, pull out their chair at the table, carry their books and groceries -- and the correct answer is "Yes, dear."

[whathehell]

29. I hope by "they" you're not speaking of Catholics

They are NOT a monolithic group, and, by and large, less 'Trumpy' than your average Protestant Funaamentalist

[malaise]

4. Not that I give a shit but Shady is

going to be excommunicated .
I wonder if American Catholics ever gave thought to the possibility that those concentration camps could be for them too and not just the non-whites immigrants.

[VTderry]

9. Maybe that's the Couch Botherer's long game?

Get excommunicated, use it as the catalyst for a schism, install Pope Peter (Theil) as the head of the new Opus Dei Catholic Church of Capitalism (useless eaters not welcome, except as food or fuel.)

[malaise]

16. Love it

Rec

[B.See]

35. Lol. But then again,

maybe that's not so far fetched given the batshitery of the maga mentality,

[whathehell]

30. American Catholics are not a monolithic group,

and I've heard more condemnation of Trump and his Immigration policies from Pope Leo than from any similarly prominent Protestant leader, especially of the Evangelical persuasion.

[B.See]

36. PRECISELY

[MadameButterfly]

34. Let's not put this on Catholics

Trump supporters should understand that the concentration camps won't be reserved for only immigrants forever,.

[themaguffin]

6. Good to see the U.S. Bishops start to wake up.

[multigraincracker]

8. Some claim this is a Christian Nation.

Roman Catholic is the largest denomination. Let’s call this a Catholic Country.

Just saying.

[TommyT139]

26. Sane Christians still believe in the separation of Church and State

[multigraincracker]

42. Most of the signers of the Constitution

were deist.

[whathehell]

31. Let's not..Up until relatively recently

this country had a solid Protestant majority that comprised it's power base, socially, economically and politically and in representating much of the "old money" in America, these WASPS, e.g. White Anglo Saxon Protestants, still do..
You may not remember the controversy that emerged when JFK sought (and won,) the Presidency as the first Catholic to do so, but it was a big deal.

[Passages]

11. This of course must be explained to the sociopath in Chief.

[usonian]

12. Accomplices to crime. Six "Catholicks" of note

All partaking of the sacramental vodka.

[whathehell]

38. Two "Catholicks" of Greater note..

Opponents of "crime".

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/us/politics/biden-jfk-assassination-papers.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bFA.40J5.BtdT9ZvSfxUj&smid=url-share
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden

[rurallib]

13. Are the prediction markets taking any line on a Trump War with the Vatican?

The Trump boys will probably lay some heavy bets that it is on!

Who will be the Trump appointed Pope? Stephen Miller?

[Warpy]

14. JD seems to have bought in to the Nativist/Klanner

dictates that the US is a majority white, Protestant nation and everybody else better sit down and be quiet or they'll face (unspoken) consequences.

Put some real teeth into the traditions generations of patriots respected and we might just be ready for the next Fatso.

[Raven123]

15. Good. I wish they had been a defender of Pope Francis

As an organization they were inexplicably weak and sometimes silent, early in the immigration enforcement debacle. If JD wishes to challenge the Pope on Doctrine deny him Communion, like they did to Pelosi.

[AverageOldGuy]

17. It's not just Trump's attack on the Pope

Remember -- a couple of days after Trump launched his attack on the Pope, this happened.

A peculiar meeting at the Pentagon between apostolic nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who serves as Pope Leo XIV's U.S. representative, and a senior Department of Defense official has led to a flurry of speculation and concern about the relationship between the Pentagon and the Vatican.

The January meeting was first reported by The Free Press earlier this week, which claimed Pentagon officials warned the Vatican "the United States has the military power to do whatever it wants" and the Catholic Church should take its side. Within hours, the report sparked statements from U.S. and Vatican officials, with varying accounts and interpretations of the meeting emerging over the next day as a wave of discourse erupted among Vatican-watchers and other Catholics.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/unusual-pentagon-vatican-meeting-sparks-intrigue-denials-and-whispers-diplomatic-clash

Trump attacks the Pope, Hegseth's lap dogs attack senior Catholic clergy who -- Thank God! -- fired back and did not back down.

Which brings us to this question: At what point will Trump send his private army -- ICE -- into churches?

And what will you do when it's your church? At my church I will be one of those barring the doors and they will have to beat the shit out of me to get me out of the way.

[TommyT139]

27. ICE arrests in churches

Trump rewrote Biden's policy on Day 1 to allow ICE arrests in churches and on church property. It's been happening.

From July 2025:
Religious Groups Sue Trump-Vance Administration Over Immigration Raids at Houses of Worship

https://democracyforward.org/news/press-releases/houses-of-worship/

If it's not happening in your church or diocese yet, you should have a plan anyway.

[LostOne4Ever]

18. I might not be a believer anymore

But, for today at least, I am proud of the church to which I used to belong!

I bet Donahue and his Catholic League fascists are having a tantrum

[patphil]

19. Trump doesn't engage in the concept of "just war".

He just engages in war.
So, as the leader of the United States, he engages in a war that is unjust by it's very nature, and expects all true Catholics to simply come along for the ride.
I'm sure that all true Christians can also identify with the concept of a "just war", as opposed to an unjust one.

The key word here is "true".

[C Moon]

22. Well, trump is bigger than Jesus.

[Another Jackalope]

32. No, that was the Beatles... nt

[paleotn]

23. Excommunicate Jethro!!

[spanone]

24. Thank you, Bishops.

[TommyT139]

28. Direct link to statement

Just for convenience:

https://www.usccb.org/news/2026/us-bishops-chairman-doctrine-issues-clarification-just-war-theory

[3catwoman3]

44. Journalist Mike Barnicle had an interesting thought today during his time...

...on Nicolle Wallace's show. He thinks one of the reasons TOFU Don is so hostile to Pope Leo is that since Pope Leo's selection, Donnie is no longer the most famous American on the planet.

[Haggard Celine]

49. There might be some truth to that.

As jealous as he is of Obama, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if he felt threatened by the Pope too.

[Xipe Totec]

46. Excommunicate the apostate! nt